Nomad homes in on new acquisition

Fresh from its acquisition of Queensland-based transportable homes builder, Halley Homes in September this year, Nomad Building Solutions Ltd has another takeover target firmly in its sights.

Nomad Building Solutions managing director Phil Guy said the company would likely announce its next successful acquisition in February.

Despite previously flagging the possible acquisition of a housing group in South Australia this year, Mr Guy said the imminent acquisition would not be in the state.

 “We’ve got a number of acquisitions that we’re looking at now,” he said.

To help guide Nomad through its next growth spurt, a national search has begun to find a chief executive officer with strong operational expertise for its subsidiary, Nomad Modular Building Pty Ltd.

“The CEO will be responsible for strategy, acquisitions and managing the whole of the business. It’s really to help free me up and give me more time to network at a higher level in industry,” Mr Guy said.

The Henderson-based company, which designs, manufactures and installs permanent and transportable modular accommodation, is keen to diversify its operations following the $6 million Halley Homes purchase and the acquisition of Wangara-based McGrath Homes for $17.6 million in December 2006.

With a strong order book of work with BHP Billiton and Woodside into next year, Nomad also has the ability to expand its current core operations through identified targets or start-ups.

Mr Guy said finding quality labour to meet current market demand proved a constant challenge for the company, but was under control.

“There have been a number of large projects that have come up that we’ve had to knock back because the risks are too high,” he said.

“You must be absolutely confident that you can meet the timeframe because otherwise you will only get hit with costs at the other end. The quality of the contractors you intend to use must also be applicable to the client and some clients are more demanding than others.”

Last week, the company posted a full-year net profit to June 2007 of $16.6 million, exceeding its prospectus forecast by 44 per cent.